building Chi

[Jack Straw]

I am still fairly new to martial arts. I started for (what I feel to be) typical reasons. Mostly exercise and flexibility. After being in for a short period, I started looking at the more philisophical side of the arts. I am interested in learning how to cultivate Chi and how to learn to use it. I live in the middle of no where and have been looking for a teacher, but have yet to find one. Any suggestions on websites, books or other tools to at least help me get started?

[Taryn P.]

I'm sure some will disagree with me.....

Everybody taps into chi in some fashion, they just don't always see/term it in that way. Anything that inspires you, juices you up, gives you a "rush". Learn what does that for you, recognize it, feel the way it flows. Visualize it- colorful auras, sparkles... then use that visualization to attempt to infuse that "rush" into your exercises. There are lots of simple exercises out there to use as frameworks, but it's all about the visualization and intent.

[mawali]

Jack Straw said

I am still fairly new to martial arts. I started for (what I feel to be) typical reasons. Mostly exercise and flexibility. After being in for a short period, I started looking at the more philisophical side of the arts. I am interested in learning how to cultivate Chi and how to learn to use it. I live in the middle of no where and have been looking for a teacher, but have yet to find one. Any suggestions on websites, books or other tools to at least help me get started?

People's past experiences colour how they perceive qi.
Qi is multi-dimensional and goes beyong the 'daoyin' routines/exercises to nuture and build it. The root (san bao-three treasures) are jing, qi and shen.

jing-what we get from our parents. your present vitality comes from them and includes heredity.
qi; generally breath. it also includes your present state of health, age and nutrititive status
shen: generally spirit. it is a combination of jing and qi as expressent in your present 'animus'.

One of the best ways is zhanzhuang (post standing) along with walking 1-2 miles a day fo rthe rest of your life. Less things to learn, less things to remember!
Post standing is essentially holding specific postures for an extended period of time so start small. 3-5 minutes and do ending routine (shougong) of dry washing face, neck, rubbing hands and letting stay at navel for 10 minutes. Take a short walk. This is as simple as I can get.

I will try to post some zhanzhuang postures as examples!

[Baxian]

mawali,

I have heard the term Jingshen used as a single term for example in listing the rules for a school. Do you know if this has relation to the list you gave or is it like house...fly.....housefly and means different things?

Hope I am not hijacking the thread.

Baxian

[mawali]

You are exactly right!
Rules of behaviour is not a word for word translation due to the ideograph of the specific context. That is why when you see Mandarin translated ideograph, the English version comes out weird because they did a word for word translation.

Regulation of spirit (content) comes out to be behaviour rules!
As told to me by my teacher many years ago!

Ever look up the many definitions of qi? The ideograph for qigong is a pot of rice being stoked by fire and cooking for a specific time period. Obviously the time involved in not part of the depeiction but it involed 'work' to reach a desired completion point. All of that for 1 ideograph! wow!

[Baxian]

Mawali,

Thanks for your answer. One day I have to learn Chinese.

Baxian